


When You Are A King

by WhoStarLocked



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Baby Noctis Lucis Caelum, Babysitter Cor Leonis, Babysitting, Cor Leonis is a Good Bro, Council Meeting, Crying, F/M, Fussy Noctis Lucis Caelum, Gen, Good Parent Clarus Amicitia, I'm Bad At Tagging, Inspired by Music, Lullabies, Mentioned Gladiolus Amicitia, One Shot, Parent Clarus Amicitia, Parent Cor Leonis, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Picky Noctis Lucis Caelum, Singing, Sleep Deprivation, Song: When You Are A King, Songfic, Supportive Clarus Amicitia, Young Gladiolus Amicitia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:48:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26036647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoStarLocked/pseuds/WhoStarLocked
Summary: Six-month-old Noctis Lucis Caelum is his parents' pride and joy, and can do absolutely no wrong in this world. Or so they think, until he starts crying inconsolably. Not Regis, nor Aulea, Clarus, or the army of nannies they employ can console their precious angel. He cries endlessly, and no one can calm him down.Except, that is, for Cor. The question is, what the hell is his secret?
Relationships: Aulea Lucis Caelum & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Aulea Lucis Caelum & Regis Lucis Caelum, Aulea Lucis Caelum/Regis Lucis Caelum, Clarus Amicitia & Cor Leonis, Clarus Amicitia & Cor Leonis & Regis Lucis Caelum, Clarus Amicitia & Regis Lucis Caelum, Cor Leonis & Aulea Lucis Caelum, Cor Leonis & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Cor Leonis & Regis Lucis Caelum, Noctis Lucis Caelum & Regis Lucis Caelum, Titus Drautos | Glauca & Cor Leonis
Comments: 8
Kudos: 104





	When You Are A King

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by When You Are A King by The White Plains. I grew up listening to this song and the other day an image of Cor singing this to lil' baby Noctis came into my head and refused to leave until I wrote it down, so here we are. 
> 
> This is basically a self-indulgent fic, but I hope you all enjoy it anyway!

Regis and Aulea Lucis Caelum are delighted with the birth of their son. Little Prince Noctis brings such joy, and wonder, and love into their lives that the Lucian King and Queen feel like they’re on cloud nine, and nothing is ever going to bring them down. Their little Prince is the one that shatters that illusion for them, just six months into his life. 

The thing is, he just won’t stop _crying!_

Whenever the heart-breaking little wails crackle over the baby monitor in their bedroom, Regis is up instantly and running through to the nursery. He picks up his son, cradles him gently, and checks for any offensive substances in his nappy, but there are none. 

“Shhh, little Noctis.” He whispers, carrying his son over to the small fridge on the counter where they store formula milk for him. “Food is coming now, please don’t wake up your mummy.” 

He grabs the milk, and tries to settle Noctis in the crook of his arm to offer him the bottle, but he is having none of it. His crying gets louder, and he flails in Regis’ arms until Regis abandons the milk and sits him upright. Noctis curls into Regis’ chest, head resting over Regis’ heart, and his eyes begin to droop shut. 

“Oh, okay then, you heathen.” Regis grins, swaying from side to side to urge his son back to sleep. “Are you sure you’re a Lucis Caelum? Getting up in the middle of the night for nothing? Ah, even if you’re not, I love you.” 

But as he speaks, Noctis blinks awake. His little face crumples into a pout and the crying starts up again, crescendoing from a little grumble into an all-out keening sound in seconds flat. 

Regis hushes him, still swaying, but it makes no difference. Regis walks over to the crib and grabs Noctis’ blanket. Sometimes he likes having his blanket with him, but no. When Regis offers the soft material to his son, he just pushes it away with one tiny fist. 

“Regis, he’ll want feeding!” Aulea hisses, leaning against the doorway between their bedroom and the nursery. 

Regis turns to face her, shaking his head. “I tried. He’s not interested in that, and there’s nothing in his nappy.” 

With a frown, Aulea walks towards them, arms outstretched. Regis meets her halfway, and plops Noctis in her hold. Maybe he just doesn’t want Regis right now. But again, it makes no difference. Noctis continues bawling like there’s no tomorrow. 

“Is there a storm?” Aulea asks after a while, at wit’s end. It’s now been nearly twenty minutes since the crying started, and there’s a killer headache making itself known. Add that on to how exhausted she already feels, and she’s pretty close to joining her son. 

Regis isn’t doing much better. Noct crying distresses them both every time it happens. Their little Prince should be completely satisfied. He crosses the room and opens the curtain slightly. It’s not a storm. There’s not a single cloud on the horizon. 

“Nope. Maybe he doesn’t like the dark?” Regis asks, turning back towards his son. 

“Maybe?” Aulea answers, sounding uncertain. She shuffles Noctis’ weight in her arms and bounces him up and down, but to no avail. “But, he’s six months old, he’d have cried about that before now, surely?” 

“I don’t know. Babies are dumb sometimes.” Regis sighs. He flicks on a lamp, but it only causes poor Noctis to graduate to a horrible screeching noise. “Okay, it’s not a fear of the dark.” 

He turns the light off again. He’ll be amazed if a single person in the whole Citadel has managed to sleep through this. It goes on and on. Noctis cries for two hours before he tires himself out. If it hadn’t been the arse-end of the morning, Regis would have been mildly impressed by the length of the tantrum. But it’s now close to five in the morning, and he has to be up in two hours. Still debating about the cause of Noctis’ upset, he and Aulea collapse into their bed, utterly exhausted. 

“Maybe it was just a one-time freak-out thing.” Aulea muses, half-asleep as she watches Regis get dressed and down several cups of coffee. “Maybe he had a bad dream.” 

“Let’s hope so.” Regis replies, pressing a soft kiss to her lips before he leaves her to sleep in.

* * *

It’s not a one-time thing. Noctis becomes inconsolable, and wakes up almost every night without fail. According to the royal nannies, Noctis is now pulling the same stunt in his daytime naps as well. 

“Well, it’s almost like something changed and he doesn’t like it!” Regis says, exasperated, as they stand yet again in the nursery with their screaming child in the early hours of the morning. Regis is bone-tired, and Aulea is not doing much better. 

In a fit of desperation, he has Clarus investigate anything and everything that might have changed in the last two weeks. 

“Like what?” Clarus asks, eyeing him warily. He knows what it feels like to be a new exhausted parent, after all. Gladio hadn’t been a picnic when he was this young, either, so Clarus is well aware of just how close to deranged his friend is probably feeling. 

“I don’t know! Did we change the food supply? Did we get a new carpet cleaner? A different laundry detergent? Did we have a change of nanny or something? There has to be _something_!” Regis asks, getting more and more desperate. 

“It’s not uncommon for babies to not sleep through the night all the time, Reggie.” Clarus says, clapping a hand on Regis’ shoulder with sympathy. The last two weeks of sleeplessness are beginning to take their toll on Regis. His hair is in disarray, and there’s a crazed edge to him now. He’s been snappier with the council too, but Clarus isn’t about to complain about that much. Some of them need putting in their place. People are beginning to walk on tenterhooks around him, like one wrong word could end in them being expelled from Insomnia with extreme prejudice. 

“I know,” Regis whines in response, pouting at his empty coffee cup as they wait for the rest of the council to arrive for a meeting. “But there’s that and then there’s not sleeping properly at all in sixteen days.” 

“Have you tried giving him a mobile?” Clarus asks. Regis nods miserably. 

“He screamed even more.”

Oof. 

That’s tough. Gladio had stopped screaming pretty quickly after they’d got him one. 

Before Clarus can reply, the councillors file in, and Regis is inundated with pointless greetings and the meeting begins. But not ten minutes into it, a distant wailing becomes audible. 

Regis gulps. 

The wailing gets louder and louder, and eventually the councillor who had been trying to continue with his report falls silent, turning to stare at the closed doors of the room. Almost everyone looks perplexed as they wait for the wailing to cease. 

The doors swing wide open, and they’re greeted by a very, _very_ pissed off looking Queen. 

“His nanny just quit, and I have an event to attend.”

“My Queen, this meeting-” 

Regis never gets any further. Aulea stalks towards him, unceremoniously dumps the still-screaming Noctis into Regis’ arms and turns and walks out without another word, slamming the door shut after her. Gods, the Prince has a good set of lungs on him, that’s for sure. 

“Noct, baby boy, what’s wrong? Please stop.” Regis says, rearranging Noctis in his arms. His voice wobbles, and when Clarus looks up at his friend rather than his son, he sees Regis is close to tears himself. 

“Give him here.” Clarus says, and plucks Noctis out of his lap. 

The change of arms momentarily makes Noctis pause, and then he seems to register that he does not know Clarus, and cries even harder. Clarus swiftly stands and takes Noctis out of the room. He picks a guard to go and act as Shield for him while he deals with the Prince. Clarus isn’t happy about picking just anyone, but with Cor away on a mission, it’s his only choice. 

He takes Noctis out to the gardens, and the Prince continues to bawl and whinge in his arms. Good gods, no wonder Regis and Aulea are looking so ragged at the moment. Clarus very deliberately sits in the shade of a tree next to a patch of lavender, and begins to talk to the upset baby. After half an hour of his nonsensical babbling, the strong scent of the flowers does the trick, and Noctis settles to sleep in his arms. 

“ _Finally_.” Clarus sighs. “Gosh, young man. You’re giving your parents a hard time, aren’t you? You’ve got to grow out of this, or else your future kingdom will be a complete shambles.” 

Clarus leaves the little Prince to sleep and scrolls through his phone with one hand. The other one has gone dead and tingly underneath Noctis’ weight, but like hell is he about to move him. 

After another half hour, Clarus spots Regis making his way over to them, a couple of Crownsguards trailing him. He smiles, and presses a finger to his lips. The relief on Regis’ face makes Clarus’ heart pang for his friend. 

“How long this time?” Regis whispers, kneeling next to Clarus. 

“A good half hour since I’ve had him. Gods know how long he was crying to make the nanny quit.” Clarus murmurs back. Regis sighs, but nods, rubbing at his brow. Clarus knows that to be Regis’ stress tell. “Look, Regis. I know he’s your precious darling and all that, but you and Aulea need a good night’s sleep. Let me take him tonight.” 

Regis bites his lip. “But then you’ll just be tired instead of me. And he’ll keep Gladio up.” 

“Yes well, Gladio is petitioning for a sibling, so maybe this will change his mind. And as for me, I can deal with missing a night’s sleep. You and Aulea haven’t had a break from this in two weeks.” Clarus answers. He knows a lot of Regis’ reluctance comes from not having his baby with him overnight. Cor has babysat for them before while they’ve attended events and dinners, but they have always returned to their baby. A whole ten hours probably seems daunting. Clarus knows he was a wreck the first time he left Cor in charge of babysitting Gladio to go out overnight with his wife. 

“Are you sure?” Regis asks, worry in his eyes as he gazes at his son. 

“Of course. You never know, a change of scenery might help.” Clarus smiles. 

Regis meets his gaze and smiles back. “Somehow, I doubt it. Thank you.” 

“Any time.” Clarus says firmly. He’s confident that he and his wife can deal with a crying baby for one night. They’ve been parents for three years now. They are basically veterans. 

* * * 

“I regret to inform you that my wife has sworn to divorce me if I ever bring your - and I quote - ‘daemon baby’ into our home again.” Clarus says in greeting when he sees Regis the next morning. 

It had been one hell of a night, and his wife had not been impressed with the lack of sleep the pair of them got. To add insult to injury, Gladio, the little swine, somehow managed to sleep soundly through the night, so now having laid eyes on a ‘cute sweet amazing little baby’ he wants a sibling more than ever. Clarus is not jealous of his son’s apparent ability to sleep like a log. He’s _not_. 

The good news is Cor got back last night, so like the good boss he totally is, Clarus dumps most of his work on the Marshal and then takes a nap in his office. 

* * *

Everyone has rather been hoping that Noctis would have grown out of whatever snit he’s in by the time he turns seven months old. 

He has not. 

It leads to a second nanny quitting within a month, and the fifth meeting interrupted by his incessant squalling. 

“Oh gods, what’s got him so upset?” Cor asks in surprise as the doors to the council room open and a flustered nanny rushes the Prince to his father. He has been away a lot, one mission coming straight after another. Cor only had two nights in Insomnia in between them, and one of those he spent babysitting Noctis overnight, but the baby had been completely calm. He’d not had crying this bad even when Noctis had woken up.

“That’s the million gil question.” Clarus mutters, dropping his head into his hands as Regis accepts both his son and another resignation. This nanny at least sticks around to explain that she’s tried everything she can think of to make the Prince go down for his nap, but he just will not stop. She says she’s never heard of a baby crying for three hours straight before today.

“He’s been doing this for just over a month now.” Regis sighs, half-heartedly bobbing his son up and down on his knee. There’s no point. Nothing will console Noctis. He’ll just tire himself out eventually. 

“Now you see why I said you were lucky to have pretty much back-to-back missions.” Captain Drautos said to Cor, rubbing at his brow. 

“Oh, there’s no point.” Regis says, cursing softly. “We’ll postpone this meeting-”

“What?” Cor interrupts, bewildered. “We don’t need to postpone the meeting, he’ll stop soon.” 

“Yeah, in about an hour’s time, _if_ we’re lucky.” Clarus moans. 

“Are you telling me he was fine when you had him overnight the other day?” Regis asks Cor. 

Every single head in the room turns to Cor. He shifts under the sudden attention. 

“Well, yeah. He woke up three times, once for food, and twice I just fussed him a bit and he went straight back to sleep.” 

“ _How?!_ ” Regis demands, sounding half-crazed. 

Cor raises his eyebrows. How is he - the non-parent - the one that’s not having issues with lulling a baby asleep? 

“Gimme.” Cor sighs, standing. He picks up Noctis and heads towards the door. 

“Wait, Cor, I really need your report-”

“I’ll be back in ten, tops.” Cor says, giving his friend an exasperated look. Just how long did they think it would take him to calm down a baby?

“Ten gil says he’s longer than that.” Clarus says to the room at large. No one takes the bet. 

Cor shuts the door so they can carry on their meeting, then glances each way down the corridor. When he’s sure it’s empty, he settles Noctis in the crook of one elbow, his head leaning just over Cor’s heart, and he begins to hum quietly, swaying gently. 

“ _Parting in your hair, it’s hardly ever there_.” Cor sings, using his free hand to smooth down Noctis’ jet black locks. “ _Wash your face. Shabby in your dress, always look a mess. Don’t you care?_ ” 

He runs his hand over the Prince’s back in a soothing circle as he continues. Noctis’ wails are already beginning to lessen. 

“ _Mommy’s there to see you always look your best, change your dirty vest, and when you grow you’ll be a King!_ ” Cor stills his hand, leaving it pressed to the baby’s back as he sings the chorus. Noctis is only grumbling against his chest, and his eyes are already drooping shut. “ _Never do a thing. Four and twenty blackbirds sing along, royal gifts they all will bring, when you are a King. Everywhere you go, people bowing low. Carriages to take you anywhere, feet won’t ever touch a thing, when you are a King._ ” 

It’s a very old lullaby, and Cor’s not quite sure where it came from, but he remembers being taught it as a child, and it has always worked wonders on Noctis. Whenever Cor has babysat the Prince, he’s sung it. It’s just so appropriate. 

By the end of the first chorus, Noctis is sound asleep in his arms. Mission accomplished, Cor returns to the meeting. The whole council is staring at him as he walks in. Regis keeps blinking at him, jaw hanging open, like he’s grown a second head.

“What?” Cor asks, returning to his seat. 

Clarus gapes at Noctis for a minute before looking to Cor in shocked amazement. “Fucking hell - how have you done that?! You didn’t fucking drug him, did you?” 

“No, I did not drug him!” Cor replies sharply, offended. “I just fussed him.” 

“But how?!” Regis moans, flinging his arms dramatically across the table. “How?!” 

Cor shrugs, and feels heat rising in his cheeks when everyone still just stares at him. “I just fussed him.” 

“Huh. Looks like uncle Cor’s got the magic touch.” Drautos says, chuckling lightly. The other councillors also laugh a little at the joke.

“That’s _so_ not fair.” Regis whines.

“I can always wake him up again if you want.” Cor says with a smirk. 

“Do that and I’ll fire you.” Clarus replies without missing a beat. 

Cor just laughs. He’s missed them.

* * *

Regis and Aulea suffer another two weeks of inconsolable Noctis before Aulea hatches a plan. She is determined to get to the bottom of her son’s bizarre behaviour, and after hearing that Cor somehow manages to calm him down, she wants to know how. 

“Your Majesty,” Cor greets as she lets him into her and Regis’ rooms. 

“Oh please, Cor. Ditch the formalities.” Aulea smiles, shutting the door behind him. They’ve had a report that there will be an attempt on Regis’ life tonight, so Regis has asked Cor to stay in their rooms in case it’s true. Or at least, that’s what Cor thinks is going on. In reality, Aulea and Regis have falsified that report, along with Clarus (who is at home pretending Gladio is ill), and Cor is here so they can see how he gets Noctis to sleep. 

Cor - being the good friend he is - had immediately offered to deal with Noct in the night, since he would be up anyway. They had gratefully accepted, and Cor fell for it hook, line, and sinker. 

“I’m on duty, your Majesty.” Cor replies, smiling. 

“Like that’s ever stopped you before.” Regis chuckles, sauntering into the room. Cor grins back and lets Regis pull him in for a quick hug. 

They share a drink and catch up for a couple of hours. Cor fills them in on some more interesting - but not intel-related - stories from his missions, and they discuss Noctis’ sleeping problem more. Regis and Aulea retreat to bed, and Cor settles down in their living room with his laptop, and starts dealing with overdue holiday requests, post-dated sick notes and everything else that falls behind when he has missions. 

But it’s not long before he hears Noctis begin to stir in the nursery, and before he can escalate into all-out crying and wake his parents, Cor sets his work aside and heads into the nursery. As soon as Noctis spots him, he reaches up, whining. Cor quickly scoops him up and heads to the other side of the nursery, so he doesn’t wake up his King or Queen as he sings. 

“Gods fucking damn it!” Aulea hisses, staring at the baby monitor on her husband’s bedside table. On the tiny little screen, Cor has his back to the monitor, so anything he’s saying and doing is lost to them. 

“Ah, damn it, Cor! Why are you being so thoughtful?” Regis moans. The only thing they get to see is Cor swaying. They’ve both tried swaying and rocking and bouncing and all kinds of movements with Noct, and he hates them. But Cor can do it? Regis huffs as within minutes Cor settles a happily sleeping Noctis back in his cradle and heads back out to the living room. 

* * *

“Cor! What is your damn secret?” Aulea mutters angrily, throwing the covers clean off their bed as she stomps over to the door adjoining to the nursery. It’s four in the morning, and this is the fifth time Noctis has woken up, and the fifth time that Cor has managed to shush him without them seeing how Cor comforts him. 

Regis hurries after his wife, catching her arm to stop her storming through to the nursery. “Aulea, shush! He’ll hear us!” 

“I don’t care, Regis! Noctis is our son, I want to be able to put _my son_ to bed!” Aulea says, and her voice wobbles.

“I know, I know.” Regis sighs, tugging her hand away from the door again as she tries to push past him. “But we can’t just march in there, if Noct is getting some sleep, does it matter who can help him? We should get some sleep too!” 

“No! What are we going to do? Invite Cor around every night?! We have to know how he-”

“Shush!” Regis interrupts suddenly, waving a hand to get Aulea’s attention. 

Aulea’s eyes narrow, and she puts her hands on her hips. “Don’t you ‘shush’ me, Regis Lucis Caelum!” 

Regis grimaces and claps a hand over Aulea’s mouth. “ _Listen!_ ” 

From the other side of the door, there’s a soft voice singing. _Singing?!_ But Aulea has tried singing as well! Is Noctis really so damn picky over his lullaby? Aulea quickly dashes over to the monitor and brings it back to the closed door. On the screen, Cor is gently rocking Noctis, standing just next to his crib. As they stand, holding their breath, they can just make out the words. 

“ _Tore your shirt again, fighting in the rain, with what’s-his-name. Shoe-black on your face, you’re really a disgrace. Mummy smiles and all the while because she loves you she will worry so._ ”

Regis glances at Aulea and they both smile softly as they listen. Regis recognises the words of the song as a poem he’d read as a child - one of his nannies had once told him that a commoner had made it for the birth of a Prince long ago. He’s never heard it sung though, and he wonders how Cor knows it. Cor keeps swaying in time to the lullaby, Noctis is curled into his chest, a small smile curving his lips as Cor sings to him. It would appear Noctis really is that picky over his lullaby after all.

“ _And if you’re good you know that when you grow you’ll be a King! Never do a thing. Four and twenty blackbirds sing along, royal gifts they all will bring, when you are a King. Everywhere you go, people bowing low. Carriages to take you anywhere, feet won’t ever touch a thing, when you are a King._ ” 

Cor hums the tune over as he carefully lowers Noctis back into his cradle. 

“Aw, that song is so sweet!” Aulea gasps, pressing one hand to her heart. 

“Guess Noct knows he is a Prince, if only that song does the trick.” Regis murmurs, pulling Aulea into a hug. “Can’t believe he can tell the difference though.” 

“ _Guess he’s smarter than you two. Go the fuck to sleep!_ ”

Both Regis and Aulea jump a mile at the sound of Cor’s irritated voice coming over the monitor. When they glance down, they’re treated to the Marshal glaring at the camera. 

“Sorry, Cor.” Regis whispers, smiling sheepishly despite the fact Cor can’t see him. 

“ _You will be sorry_.” 

* * *

It takes Regis and Aulea two days to badger Cor into teaching them - and the latest nanny - the song, and it takes another two days for them to perfect it. 

After nearly two months of endless crying and tear-inducing frustration, Regis and Aulea head to bed, confident that they’ll be able to help Noctis back to sleep when he wakes up. They sit up, almost eagerly waiting for their son to cry, just so they can sing his lullaby. 

That is the first time that Noctis sleeps through the night. 


End file.
